


Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

by hoper_dreamer



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Almost Kiss, Episode: s01e11 Boom Town, F/M, Lion King (1994) References, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2014-06-23
Packaged: 2018-02-05 20:43:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1831627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoper_dreamer/pseuds/hoper_dreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler songfic featuring Can You Feel the Love Tonight from the Lion King.<br/>Set immediately after Boom Town. Rose is upset over Mickey's angry departure, and the Doctor decides to try to cheer her up with a dance. Neither expected things to go as they did...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic on this website, so I hope you could give me a few comments or kudos if it deserves them! Thanks, and lots of love xx
> 
> Also, unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

The TARDIS slowly swirled through the great expanse of space. After the long day the trio had just had, the Doctor had chosen a slow, almost meandering course to take Blon the Slitheen back to Raxacoricofallapatorious.

Jack was fine with that. As much as he loved the fast-paced action of a good fight, he sometimes enjoyed taking things slow. Of course, some top-shelf alcohol and an eager partner often helped, but at that moment he was stuck with the options before him: a big-eared alien with more baggage than a freight train and a girl currently moping over her we’re-dating-but-we’re-not-dating boyfriend.

So yeah. Jack wasn’t getting shagged tonight.

Not that he’d often gotten shagged once he joined the TARDIS crew, anyway. His two other travelling companions were so obviously smitten with each other that it was hilarious they weren’t together and shagging across time and space already. Or at least that neither had even _noticed_ the other's feelings. Basically, Jack was feeling a mite under-sexed.

But, on the other hand, he had some delectable fizzy wine from the planet Ariel that left him feeling pleasantly warm and buzzed. Everything seemed to have a soft yellow aura around it—a sharp contrast to the current atmosphere of the TARDIS.

If there was one thing Jack had learned while travelling in the TARDIS, it was that one person’s mood often affected all the others. It was amazing how cramped and cloistered the vast ship could seem when someone was pissed. And currently Rose was sitting on the bench by the console with her knees pulled up and her chin resting atop them. The far-off look in her eyes only gave a slight hint to her tumbling feelings over Mickey’s departure. From what Jack could deduce, it hadn’t been a peaceful farewell.

Jack honestly felt a bit of pity for Mickey. He was clearly still infatuated with Rose, and he was blind to see that she no longer felt that way about him—if she ever really did. And the Doctor was pretty heavy competition for a normal guy to match. Jack had tossed out his chances with Rose once he’d seen the two of them together dancing on the TARDIS.

The Doctor himself was obviously bothered by Rose being upset. He kept moving aimlessly around the console, flipping switches and toggling dials, his mind mile away from his body. Finally, after ages of bustling, he paused for a second, smiled his goofy smile, and flipped a single switch.

Suddenly, peppy African-sounding music filled the room.

_Hakuna Matata—what a wonderful phrase!_

Rose let out a short, sharp laugh as the Doctor began goofily dancing over to her, snapping his fingers in time. “I told you I could dance, Rose,” he said playfully. “Now let’s dance.” He reached his hand out towards the blonde girl, and she cautiously took it. The Doctor tugged her off the chair and started spinning her dramatically around the room. Soon peals of laughter echoed off the walls, and the buzzed atmosphere created by Jack’s drink became the reality.

“I wouldn’t have pinned you as a Disney guy, Doc!” Jack called over the music. “I would have guessed more…tortured rock ballads.”

“Oh, _fantastic_ films they are though, Jack,” The Doctor responded, twirling Rose around. “And Disney himself wasn’t half-bad either.”

“Bet he came up with Dumbo after meeting you!” Jack teased. “All big ears and leather jacket—perfect flying elephant!”

“I should’ve seen that comin’,” the Doctor said wryly to the girl in his arms, shaking his head. He twirled Rose once more and caught her so she was facing him just as the music changed. The soft strains of a ballad and the quiet sounds of the jungle echoed about.

Jack recognized the tune immediately. “If this isn’t the perfect song,” he mused quietly.

_I can see what’s happening_

_And they don’t have a clue._

_They’ll fall in love and here’s the bottom line:_

_Our trio’s down to two._

Almost unconsciously, the Doctor and Rose moved closer. They fit together like puzzle pieces, her arms around his neck and his hands on her jean-clad hips. Their eyes met, they started to sway slowly in time with the song.

_Can you feel the love tonight?_

_The peace the evening brings?_

_The world for once in perfect harmony_

_With all its living things._

Jack took another slow swig of the burning alcohol and looked down at the pair. The Doctor was gazing at Rose like she was the only star in the countless skies he had seen. “What I would give for someone to look at me like that,” Jack murmured. He raised his bottle in a mock toast.

_So many things to tell her_

_But how to make her see_

_The truth about my past? Impossible!_

_She’d turn away from me._

The Doctor was a master at controlling himself. Although he had been irrevocably in love with Rose almost since “Run,” he’d managed to mostly reign in his urges and hide his feelings towards her. He couldn't let himself touch her, love her like he longed to do. If he did, if he laid himself bare before her physically or emotionally, and he lost her, it would be just like the Time War all over again. And he couldn't handle that. Not again.

But now, with their bodies touching ever so gently, his feelings were quickly spinning out of control. The small contact of her arms on his neck and the warmth of her hips made his heightened senses tingle and rush. If this continued, the dam he’d built up for so long would splinter and break and there’d be no way to retrieve all the tide released.

And yet, the Doctor wasn’t stopping.

_He’s holding back, he’s hiding_

_But why, I can’t decide._

_Why won’t he be the king I know he is,_

_The king I see inside?_

For all the time Rose had known the Time Lord, she could never work out precisely what he was thinking behind those ancient blue eyes of his. Sometimes she’d think she knew what he was thinking, and then he’d do something entirely different. In that moment, with his hands on her hips and that wondering look in his eyes, she was almost sure he was holding back…something. But what, exactly, and why?

Rose loved him; she had for months now. There’d been times where she’d been _sure_ he loved her right back. Positive he was going to grab her and snog her until she could hardly breathe. But then he’d turn away and spout a fact or two and they’d be off again without him even acknowledging the momentary connection they’d had.

Sometimes she just wanted— _needed_ —to know for sure.

_Can you feel the love tonight?_

_You needn’t look too far_

_Stealing through the night’s uncertainties_

_Love is where they are._

And so the Doctor and his companion slowly danced around the console of the ship that was their home. Each was wrapped up in their own conflicted thoughts for the other. In those moments dancing, they had eyes for no one else. They wanted those single instants to stretch on forever.  

They knew their uncertain lives. Without a doubt, something would go wrong faster than they could say “dalek” and shatter that perfect moment. But despite that—or perhaps because of that, they danced on.

“Sometimes I wonder what my life would be if you hadn’t asked twice,” Rose said suddenly.

_So do I,_ the Doctor thought.

“I mean, I’d probably still be in the shop, livin’ with my mum, pizza with Mickey on the weekends…nothing special at all.” The Doctor slowly twirled Rose, listening as she spoke. “I wouldn’t have met Dickens, seen my world burn up, almost saved my dad…I just wonder, is all.” She took a shaky breath. The Doctor stopped their dancing as she concluded. “Would I even be important?” Rose said hesitantly. “ _Am_ I even important?”

“Rose Tyler,” the Doctor said, leaning in closer to her. He put his hand on her waist and tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Every life is important, no matter how silly or mundane it might look. You’re important now, with silly ol’ me and Captain Jack here. And you’d be just as important back at that shop. You’ll always be important…especially to me.” On those last few words, his voice had gotten slightly rougher. The Doctor gently caressed his hand over her cheek, and for one heady moment Rose thought he was finally going to kiss her.  

And then as if he had been burned he pulled away, leaving only cold air where they had touched.

_And if he falls in love tonight…_

Rose watched him hurry around the console, pulling levers and adjusting dials, and her heart dropped. _There he goes, hiding again,_ she thought.

“What d’you say about dropping off little Blon to begin her new life?” the Doctor said, overly cheerfully, not making eye contact.

_It can be assumed…_

“Dammit, Doctor,” Jack muttered. “You missed your chance and broke our Rosie’s heart.” For an ancient genius, Jack mused, the Doctor was a bit thick when it came to matters of the heart.

_His carefree days with us are history…_

It was only for the best, the Doctor tried to convince himself. If he showed his feelings for Rose—and what feelings those were—he’d just hurt himself more when—if—he lost her. And that dalek in Utah had already figured out how he cared for her and almost killed her…if he made his feelings publicly, Rose would be used as a weapon against him even more often.

Yes, keeping from her would keep them both safe and sound…

_In short, our pal is doomed._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
